To go home with the championship trophy, teams in the Little League Softball World Series have to win seven games over an eight-day period against the world’s toughest competitors from Canada, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and all 50 U.S. states.

A narrow 20½ to 19½ victory for the Western Ontario Golf Superintendents Association (WOGSA) on Oct. 18 has put the Canadian side only two wins shy of its American counterparts in the annual Fall Classic match play golf series.

Volunteering their services at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National Golf Club for the fall Ryder Cup competition proved to be an eye-opening experience for a couple of Prince Edward Island golf superintendents.

A Golf Digest article suggests that perhaps the game would be better served if bunkers weren't meticulously groomed on a regular basis, making them more like true hazards and freeing up money to be spent on more important matters.

A new FIFA-certifiable synthetic field has been installed at Barrie, Ont.'s Georgian College. Sporturf business director Matt Riggs said he hopes the installation by his company is the first of many FIFA fields to come.

The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is a refrain to which golf course superintendents subscribe. Photographs help turfgrass managers explain agronomic and maintenance programs to members and sell renovation and capital improvement projects to boards of directors; a smartphone snapshot is now a powerful and ubiquitous communication tool of the trade.

The importance of overseeding sports fields cannot be overstated. Abundant wear leads to bare spots. If these sections of a field are ignored, playability is compromised, and injuries to athletes are inevitable.

Milorganite is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year as the producer of a turfgrass fertilizer manufactured from recycled wastewater biosolids. The nutrient-rich material is kiln-dried into an environmentally-friendly and safe product that diverts materials from landfill disposal.

Lichens, a natural organism often found on trees, are not a threat to the health of trees. They are often found on older trees and should not be removed by such means as power washing which can damage the tree.

The digging required to install a backyard pool has resulted in damaged roots to a neighbour's beloved Norway maple tree, and now an arborist says the declining health of the tree must force its removal. The issue, that now involves lawyers, is a complicated one.

Noted Kelowna, B.C. horticulturalist Gwen Steele is passionate about her work in promoting xeriscaping—a landscaping strategy which either greatly reduces the amount of water needed or eliminates it altogether—and strives to protect the environment in any way she can.

A project forged between the Town of Lincoln, Ont. and the Ontariogreen Conservation Area will ensure that trees that do not belong in a particular setting will not be planted. The project will promote local biodiversity and offset the destruction caused by the emerald ash borer.

Aerator shoes—pairs of strap-on, spiked soles meant to be worn atop regular shoes—have become a hot-selling item on Amazon among those who wish to improve air flow and relieve compaction on their home lawns.

With winter right around the corner, golf courses in Canada are preparing to blow out their irrigation systems and prepare them for winter. An irrigation and water supply specialist has prepared a checklist for golf courses to follow as they get ready to winterize their systems.

Raking leaves from a lawn in the fall is common practice. Removing them, however, robs the soil of good organic matter. The better approach, an authority on the subject says, is to mow them, leaving small fragments behind that provide the soil with helpful organic matter and nutrients.

A proposal to create new bus lanes in Halifax has triggered mixed reactions among the public. On the one hand, widening city streets to create bus-only lanes, improved sidewalks and a bicycle network is seen as a step in the right direction, but others suggest that removing grassy strips to better accommodate bus traffic will eliminate opportunities to plant new trees, thereby putting the future of the city's urban forest at risk.

Communities in Bloom, now in its 22nd year as a showcase for community beautification, civic pride and environmental responsibility, recently honoured its class of 2016 at its national awards program in Regina, Sask.

It is estimated that Toronto's urban forests provide $125 million in services to the city each year. But issues exist, including loopholes in their intended protection. For example, municipalities have the mandate to protect the trunks, branches, and leaves of mature trees, but their vital root systems remain largely ignored by policy, leaving them vulnerable to development.

Although snow storms in Vancouver are a rarity, they do occur from time to time. This doesn't mean the city takes snow removal lightly. The fleet was out in full force in response to Monday's snowfall.

Dozens of ash trees in Saskatoon's downtown core will be cut down next year if an infestation of the destructive emerald ash borer can't be stopped. The potential death of the trees is not sitting well with business owners in the city's downtown.

Officials from the National Allied Golf Associations recently met on Parliament Hill with important federal government decision makers to discuss the ongoing issue of tax fairness as it pertains to golf.

Calgary has one of the smallest snow-clearing budgets among Canada's largest cities, and there are local citizens who bemoan that fact every year. But with its periodic Chinook winds, a larger budget dedicated to ridding snow isn't necessary, city officials argue.

More than $1 million is available from the Rainbow District School Board in Sudbury, Ont. to provide one of its high schools with a new synthetic turf soccer field. Knowledge of the funding availability was obtained through a freedom of information request.

Trees dotting the median of a busy street in Banff, Alta. are in serious declining health and are in dire need of replacement, claims a report from the town's urban forest management plan. The trees are succumbing to two different ailments and pose a threat to public safety.

Unemployed Aboriginal people in a British Columbia region will be given government-paid training and work experience to tackle a variety of horticulture jobs, including golf course maintenance, landscaping, and greenhouse and agricultural work. The $130,000 project will help up to 12 Aboriginal people.

A new web-enabled smart controller platform has been introduced by The Toro Company's irrigation division. The SMRT Logic works with the SMRTscape app to enable mobile wireless control of irrigation systems, outdoor lighting and other applications by using a smart phone, tablet or PC.

The Laski VD500P debris loader is designed for collecting of leaves, short-cut (mowed) grasses, various municipal waste, papers and wooden chips, where gathered after upkeep and cleaning of parks and green areas.

The Cub Cadet PRO Z 900 is a cut above the rest. The new PRO Z line doesn’t just include a few updates, but is the company’s strongest, most efficient line of mowers yet and is proven by real landscape professionals.

Jacobsen’s HR600 is a class-leading, 11.4-foot width-of-cut rotary mower, designed to deliver more uptime and less upkeep. It features individual hydraulic deck motors with self-lubricating integral bearings, a fully sealed rear axle, and parking brakes integrated into the front wheel motors, allowing operators to save up to 50 hours of annual routine maintenance.